A former Minister of Aviation, Femi Fani-Kayode, has defended former President Olusegun Obasanjo over the liquidation of Nigeria Airways, insisting that the airline’s collapse resulted from years of mismanagement, corruption and mounting debts before Obasanjo returned to power in 1999.
Fani-Kayode, who served as the Minister of Aviation in 2006, said Obasanjo inherited a virtually collapsed airline and had little choice but to liquidate it in 2004.
He stated this in a post on his X account on Thursday while responding to the Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo, who had earlier accused former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar of hypocrisy over his comments on Nigeria’s economic hardship and insecurity.
In a post published on Wednesday, Keyamo accused the administration in which Atiku served as vice-president of liquidating Nigeria Airways in September 2004, leaving thousands of workers without jobs and their pensions and gratuities unpaid.
The minister said the outstanding entitlements had remained unresolved for years, claiming that some former workers died while waiting for their benefits.
He added that President Bola Tinubu had approved and released N36bn to settle the outstanding obligations, with beneficiaries already receiving payment alerts.
Keyamo also accused Atiku of taking credit for the achievements of the Obasanjo administration when convenient while distancing himself from controversial decisions.
Responding to the debate, Fani-Kayode said it was unfair to blame Obasanjo for the airline’s collapse, arguing that its decline had begun long before his return to office.
“In fairness to President Obasanjo the Nigeria Airways ‘mess’, as you have described it, was established before he came back to power in 1999.
“And it was indeed a mess but it was not of Obasanjo’s making!
“He met it there after he was sworn in and what he found broke his heart,” Fani-Kayode wrote.
He recalled that when Obasanjo left office as military Head of State in 1979, Nigeria Airways had 32 functional aircraft, experienced pilots and crew members, a first-class management team and an accountable board of directors.
He described the airline at the time as “the pride of the nation”.
However, Fani-Kayode said the situation had deteriorated considerably by 1999, when Obasanjo returned as a civilian president.
“By the time Obasanjo came back to power in 1999, 20 years later, there was only one plane left and it was not functional.
“The rest had vanished together with virtually all of the company’s assets,” he said.
According to him, successive management teams and boards contributed to the airline’s decline through corruption and mismanagement between 1979 and 1999.
He said the company’s liquidation followed chronic insolvency, operational collapse and unsuccessful attempts to revive its operations, including privatisation advice from the International Finance Corporation, which later withdrew.
Fani-Kayode maintained that the Obasanjo administration was justified in refusing to continue providing public funds to the struggling airline.
“This is why Obasanjo liquidated it in 2004 and I believe that he had no choice,” he said.
“There was nothing left to save even though it was a painful decision given the fact that he was one of those that had done so much for that company when he was Military Head of State.”
The former minister said the payment of outstanding pensions became a major issue following the liquidation.
He recalled that a committee chaired by the then Head of Service of the Federation, Yayale Ahmed, recommended that funds be released to pay the pensioners.
Fani-Kayode said he subsequently presented a memo to the Federal Executive Council in 2006, advocating the payment of the outstanding entitlements.
However, he said the proposal was rejected because some cabinet members believed former management teams and board members were responsible for the airline’s destruction and did not deserve pensions.
“I did not share that view but sadly I and those that supported me were in a minority and we lost the debate,” he said.
He added that the matter was revisited under the administration of the late President Umaru Yar’Adua, which paid most of the pensioners, while the administration of former President Muhammadu Buhari also made payments.
Fani-Kayode commended Keyamo for ensuring that the remaining pension obligations were settled under the Tinubu administration.
“It is gratifying that under your leadership the remainder of the pensions have been paid. I only wish we had done that when we were in office,” he wrote.
“The pensioners suffered immensely over the years. I have always maintained that paying them was the right thing to do.”
He also referred to Atiku’s position during the Federal Executive Council deliberations on the pension payments but declined to disclose details of the former vice-president’s stance.
“As for His Excellency Waziri @atiku I know what side of the divide he was during that debate in council but I will not share that publicly because whatever decision was finally taken was a collective one,” he said.
Fani-Kayode added that members of the administration collectively bore responsibility for the decision and its consequences.
He concluded by commending Keyamo for completing the payment of the outstanding entitlements owed to former Nigeria Airways workers.
Source: punchng.com
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